, commonly abbreviated as and marketed overseas as
Shin Megami Tensei (originally
Revelations), is a Japanese
media franchise created by Kouji Okada (credited as Cozy Odaka in English), Ginichiro Suzuki, and Kazunari Suzuki. It is primarily developed by
Atlus and currently owned by
Sega. The first entry in the series,
Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei, was released in 1987 and its success spawned one sequel, and later multiple subseries that form part of the
Megami Tensei franchise. Aside from role-playing games, the series includes examples of multiple
genres such as
tactical role-playing,
action role-playing, and
massively multiplayer online role-playing. The first two titles in the series were published by
Bandai Namco (then Namco), but have been almost always published by Atlus in Japan and North America since the release of
Shin Megami Tensei. For Europe, Atlus publishes the games through third-party companies.